Hobie Cat Forums

They're right Bob. Don't be backward in coming forward. Perhaps we should have an inventors competition this year. Hmmmm.

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

Fantastic stuff!! Simple and efficient!
I'd be interested to know how you stiffened the mast? My favorite point of sail is as close to the wind as possible, on monohulls anyway.

kevgrn114:
It was pretty simple actually, I went to home depot and bought a painting extension pole (longest they had, it was yellow). I took it apart and discarded the fiberglass and ends. For the top section I slid the 1 inch aluminum into some PVC pipe (for electrical insulation, the top section cannot touch the bottom section). For the bottom section I used an 8 ft pool cleaning pole that I bought at the local pool store. If you don't want to use aluminum, 1/2 inch dia pulltrusion rod will also work, but is more expensive) I was careful to make the joint below the mast split (where the mast is stronger). This stiffens the mast only slightly which was all I needed to be able to be able to sail pretty easily now into the wind (kind of like a Hobie cat). I could sail upwind in light winds (5-7 mph) almost directly into the wind and still make fairly good headway 2-3 mph (on GPS), and a little faster with the jib up. It even goes better if you pedal a little, the apparent wind from pedaling seems to suck you along almost directly into the wind (the sails have to be really tight). I don't think any other boat can do that. You know your in the zone when you see the tell tales streaming straight back, this appears to create a vacuum in front of the sails. Actually in real light winds (pretty typical where I live in Sarasoa,FL), my best direction is into the wind. The best I could ever do before making any mods, with just the mainsail was around 35-40 deg, and really didn't go anywhere at all in light winds. My best friend who lives in Sweden is an expert sailer, he went out with me a few times down in the Keys, and told me what mods to make the boat sail better especially upwind.
Use caution when making changes like strengthening the mast, the mast reciever is not strong enough to take the extra load in higher winds (> 15 knots), and will break (for sure). My boat has mast stays to take the extra load, but even with that I avoid winds over 18 knots. Also with the stronger mast the sail can no longer just spill the excess wind (like it was designed to do), so the whole bow will submerge, and the AMA's will completely submerge even in moderate winds so be careful. Remember you will break your mast reciever if you strenghten the mast, and sail like normal guarenteed.
Bob